You know what they say
by CheshireMisfit
Summary: A series of Akuroku oneshots for my own enjoyment. Yours, too, if you happen to read them. Current: "I think it was... something in the environment. Yeah." Roxas squinted at his stuttering friend, but shrugged and let it go. Or so Axel thought.
1. Smile

Ha. Don't kill me- this one's short. Really short. And I'm working on Solitaire! Go check it again, it has 2k more words in the fifth chapter than there were before. Well, sixth on here, but I don't count the prologue.

Rightio! I wrote this one awhile ago, and I happened upon it, and figured I could use it as a Christmas Present! Er, holiday present, to stay politically correct. I like it. It's not angsty, for once XD Right... anyway, Happy Christmahanukwanzacas! Hope your days are filled with joy, your dreams fulfilled, and you find love and happiness with every rise and set of the sun.

This is to my friends, my family, and you, the reader.

**Disclaimer: **I figure if I lure Roxas away with Sea-Salt icecream, Axel will come to save him, so I'd have Axel and Roxas in my fangirl-basement (every real fangirl has one, with pink handcuffs and trapped bishies). Then DiZ would send Riku to rescue Roxas so Sora could be saved, and I'd have Riku. Then Sora would wake up anyway, because he's Sora, and no matter what, Sora always finds a way. Even if it's physically, mentally, and fangirl-ly (we deserve a whole new category, what with the stuff we come up with) impossible. Then I'd have Riku, Sora, Roxas, and Axel! And I'd be happy! But... well... right now, I don't. But wait, just wait. One day.

_**S.m.**_i_**.l.e**_

_--I did impossible things because they were never pointed out to me that they were impossible._

I loved Roxas. Subject, verb, object. There was no other way to put it. What was a word's purpose, anyway, if not to describe? And this word did the job perfectly. Not that I would ever admit it, of course. Oh no. See, me and Roxas had a sort of balance, a precarious equilibrium. I didn't want to upset that, no. I was content with where I was, for now. Didn't want to take the risk. Always so close, never close enough. But that was a Nobody's fate, right? Always stuck in the middle. Always in Twilight. Never just black, never just white. Grey- another word. Another description. It fit.

---

Fact: Nobodies didn't have hearts.

---

I watched the blonde across from me out of the corner of my eyes, taking note of each minute detail, each unconscious movement, each and any action that might signify Roxas's mood. I watched a perfectly sculpted eyebrow tilt downward, a perfectly manicured hand twitch slightly as it moved to turn a perfect white page. I watched perfect sapphire blue eyes cloud as they roved across inked words, taking nothing in. Completely, seamlessly, _perfectly_ flawed, that was Roxas.

---

Fact: Nobodies didn't have emotions.

---

It was an elegant, coordinated, and above all _intricate_ dance, each move careful and planned, each tiny, seemingly insignificant detail filled with meaning. Every action, no, step, had another that would follow it, an expected result. I would step forward, Roxas would step back. Roxas would glide left, I would swerve right, the continuous mirror of the other. Then, invariably, one of us would make a mistake, would slip, would jar the graceful pattern, and, invariably, we would be forced by our own design to start all over again. From the top, now. Yet begin again we would, for we couldn't resist the undeniable urge to tap into that energy, experience that thrill, dance that dance just one more time. We were like moths to a flame, flying in to experience the heat, flying out before we were burned. Repeat, again and again.

---

Fact: Roxas never lied, and I never stopped.

---

Some questioned it, most just wondered. How could two opposites ever work together? But we were like pieces of the same puzzle- two of the same could never fit. Instead, you must have two different. One has a space, the other fills it, and just like that, we each filled the hole in the other's chest where our hearts were supposed to be, even if Roxas didn't know that's what I was doing. I did, though, for one simple reason.

---

Fact: I was the only one who could make Roxas smile.

---

And everything was okay. Because you know what _they_ say, smiles are the best medicine. Well, I suppose it's actually laughter, but smiles work too. And, of course, true love conquers all. Which, I guess, it just did.

A/N: Short, huh? I know. But I've gotta go wrap presents. Psh, no, I didn't procrastinate. Well, ta!

P.S.: No angsty, depressingy death this time! Aren't you proud of me?


	2. Half Empty

**A/N:** Hey! Yes, it's another one shot, because I didn't have time to work on Solitaire, but didn't want to study, so I wrote this in bits and pieces. I think I'm just going to make a whole line of one-shots and post them as one story… I don't want too much clutter, y'know?

Dedication: The lovelies xdearest mistake and AnimePenguin, because I am a firm believer in the fact that a half plus a half equals a whole.

Warnings: ANGST! Oh, my, the angst. It is here. AND THERE'S A LOT OF IT!

Pairings: Akuroku if you squint. _Hard_. And tilt your head a bit.

Disclaimer: Well, AnimePenguin said that if she owned KH she would give it to me for Christmas, but she doesn't, so I guess it's still not mine. One of these days, oh yes, one of these days…

Half Empty 

(…**never half full) **

It was empty. Oh, so, heartbreakingly, breathtakingly, earth-_shatteringly_ empty.

Roxas pivoted on his right leg, bringing his hand around to thrust forward, then up, cutting in a crescent shape. The swordsman pulled his blade back with a sickening squelch as acrid, burning liquid sprayed his arm. He whirled left, killing one more. Then two. Then three, four, ten, hundreds, thousands, more and more and more. Roxas lost track of how many lost their life to his sharp steel. What was the point in counting, anyway? They were nothing. He was just emptying what was already empty.

He danced away, twirling his twin blades through the air, pink, crystal hearts raining upward as the blood -was it even blood?- of the Heartless rained down. And, you know what _they_ say: you can't stop the rain.

His feet pounded the torn, blood-splattered ground in a constant rhythm, each step signifying another death, another heart, another nothing gone— or was it never there in the first place? Roxas didn't know. Didn't care. No, _couldn't_ care.

Drenched, almost black hair lay plastered across his forehead, small rivulets of blood, darkness, rain and sweat running into his tired eyes, his muscles moving automatically as nothing fought against nothing for nothing.

The blonde faltered for a second, concentration slipping, and was rewarded by the feel of three dark claws raking across his back. He bit his lower lip to keep from screaming and took a step back, tensing his left leg as he waited for the Heartless to try again. He felt the air change slightly and flipped backward as the creature lunged mindlessly. Roxas brought his black sword, aptly named Oblivion, down as he was in the air, slicing the Heartless cleanly through the middle.

The boy -man?- landed evenly on his feet, breathing hard, looking around for anything, _anything_ here in this nothing that could give him a brief rest. Except… that's all he found. Nothing, nothing in black bodies, writhing and twisting with acid yellow eyes, oozing puss and black poison, clacking its many claws and opening great, empty maws, looking for something to fill its great void.

And there was blood. Streams, rivers, lakes of black blood with small patches of discolored red, enough to walk waist deep in, enough to paint the city blacker than it already was.

Most of all, there was no respite, no stopping, no relenting. Waves of nothingness, oceans of nothingness, vast _universes_ of nothingness, closing in on his insubstantial **something**. Because that's what he had; he was sure of it. He had **something, something** to fight for- surely that was worth acknowledging. He had a goal, he had a dream, he had a will, and, as _they_ also said, where there's a will there's a way. Roxas didn't know who _they_ were, but a lot of people trusted _them_, so he supposed he would too. Roxas knew he had **something**, so he kept fighting, and he wasn't going to give it up, no, not for all the nothingness in this poor, sorry, _nothing_ world.

A blow from behind sent him falling, many more hits following as his grip on his blades loosened, as did his grip on consciousness.

Oh well. Roxas always did know he wouldn't die a peaceful death, not while he still had **something.** He always thought that he would die alone, too, with nothing by his side. And that's what there was, right? Nothing. It was probably better to go out fighting, anyway. He guessed it was time for the 'Last Defiance', as all of _them_ said, though he doubted his death would be quite as heroic as _they_ always said martyrdom was.

Roxas shook some unknown liquid out of his eyes and dug Oblivion into the pavement in front of him, leaning heavily on it as he stood, ignoring the accumulating gashes on his body as he pointed Oathkeeper at the storm cloud-covered sky, its elegantly sculpted handle scored in multiple places, the white paint almost completely obscured by the caked black blood decorating it.

"_And from the east came a great energy, a great something, new and unknown," _Roxas whispered, pouring all of his power, all of his being, all of his **something** into the words. "_Thin beams illuminating the unknown, swatches of white cutting through the omnipresent dark, and so, I throw the windows of my soul wide open to this dawn, to this light!" _

The sky split open, the overbearing, grey, miserable clouds parted, and through that hole, through that rift, came a faint trickle of light, then another ray slashed through the looming darkness, and another, and another, until there was a steady stream flowing onto the barren battleground, forcing the nothings back to where they came from, running in fear of the light.

Roxas allowed himself a gentle smile, a peaceful expression crossing his face as he fell to his hands and knees in the filth, the energy slowly leaving his body. That last attack… really was the last. And Roxas didn't care any more. He had won… beat back the nothing. It didn't even matter that it would be back, no, because Roxas wouldn't be. The pain he had ignored before had come back in full force, but now, now it was slowly slipping away. Everything looked blurry, though if the lack of clarity was from tiredness or tears, he couldn't be sure.

The last thing he remembered was a warm, fire-inducing hand on his shoulder, a desperate voice shouting for him to wake up, to open his eyes, to _for God's sake, Roxas, wake up or I swear I will kill you all over again,_ and something wet landing on his cheek, which brought out another happy smile from the blonde. It was far better to die in the arms of a friend than in the clutches of nothing.

**End note:** I warned you, oh yes I did, can't say I didn't. I'm going to write a slightly cracky yet happy little bit next and post it after this one. Who knows, I might be able to get a whole line of one-shots going. The fic'd be like, a poly-shot. So… yeah. I'ma go study and work on Solitaire now. More to come.

Oh yeah, Roxas's attack is equivalent to the suicide attack Axel uses in the game. I figured all Nobodies might have a sacrifice-skill, so I made one for Roxas. Words are just that… words. Maybe it's a summon technique? Meh, I'll think it over and get back to you…


	3. Unhealthy Environment

**A/N:** Oh my good Akuroku gods above. I'm such a horrible, horrible authoress, aren't I? I'm not even worth that title anymore. Letter-stringer-upper is probably all I deserve right now. I haven't updated in… O.o Almost three months. Ouch. I don't even have good excuses!!! Okay, let's start at the beginning. I had finals the whole month of December, and I had the study for those, and so didn't have a single chance to write. Then, when those were over, my brain was fried and D-E-D, so I didn't write 'til Christmas, at which time I was shipped off to South Caroline to visit my loving family for a week, and I can't write over there, because 1) I'm ashamed to admit that that particular section of my family is homophobic, and 2) I can't just lock myself up in my room when I could be spending time with my cousins. It's just not done.

Okay, next. January. I have no horribly lame reason for this month. AT ALL. I was lazy. I was a horribly horrible person and should therefore go die a horribly painful and painfully horrible death. I'm sorry. I am. Really, truly, bucket-full-of-sorrow sorry.

Then February! Okay, I was writing during February. I just…wasn't writing Kingdom Hearts. My friend AnimePenguin (yes, yes, go blame her, not me! DX) introduced me to Bleach, and so I wrote something for her favorite pairing that turned out to be not one, not five, not ten, not fifteen, but sixteen pages long. And it took up a lot of my time. Then my grandpa died, and I was really depressed and stuff, because I no longer have any blood-related grandparents )': Also, the teachers were being all mean and stuff with tests and homework and other stuff that is cruel to this particular autho— letter-stringer-upper.

BUT NOW I'M BACK! And with an extremely short one shot, another medium-length chapter, and a huge one-shot for a non-yaoi couple.

….

Kill me now. I'm really really REALLY sorry.

But I'm back, so maybe, in a couple of years, you can forgive me.

Maybe.

Enjoy this little snippet 'til I can write another one! Ta!

Unhealthy Environment

"I just don't understand what happened, Axel," Roxas said, fussing like a mother hen over his friend. "This doesn't make any sense."

"I… um, I don't know either, Rox." Axel fidgeted uncomfortably, obviously hiding something, as the blond wet a gym towel.

"Do you need some ice? No, not ice, you didn't break it. Let's see… what was it you're supposed to do?" Roxas went back over to the redhead, running the cloth gently over the injury.

"I think it's tilt back."

"Don't be stupid. You know what they say- it's always opposite of what you think it is. Tilt forward."

Axel tried to shake his head 'no', but stopped as the motion only brought on more pain.

"Gods, Axel, what caused this monstrosity?" Roxas forcefully shoved the older teen's head forward, probably hurting more than helping.

Axel gulped. "I think it was… something in the environment. Yeah."

An eyebrow raised and a hip jutted out, a fist propped on it. "Didn't I just tell you not to be stupid? It's not like the altitude on the soccer field just suddenly thinned. And I _know _you're not allergic to bees. I've seen you bitten by all _kinds_ of things."

"Yeah, because you were the one who threw them on me," the injured teenager muttered.

"Don't change the subject," Roxas said before going back to cleaning up Axel's face. "You weren't hit in the face with the ball, were you? I know it's hot outside, but surely it wasn't enough to make you so delusional you couldn't see, right? You should've taken your shirt off or something. I did, and it was a _lot_ better."

Axel twitched. Oh, yes, it really _had_ been a lot better. Roxas paused in his ministrations, thinking he had caused the twitch.

"Sorry. Oh, jeez, Ax, the blood's still flowing. Huh, maybe you _were_ supposed to tilt your head back **(1).** No, no, don't do it now, I'm still not sure. You're such an idiot."

The redhead spluttered. "Me? _I'm_ not the idiot here."

Roxas slapped him with the towel. "Don't talk back to the doctor."

"Doctor? Doctor? Who in their right mind would give _you_ a PhD?"

"I'll ignore that comment for now, if only because I know the blood loss must be affecting your reasoning capacity. Ooh, look, it's letting up. See? It _was_ forward. Huh, and we still don't know what caused it… shame."

Axel shrugged without moving his head, eyes trained on the perfectly sculpted bare chest in front of him, knowing _exactly_ what had caused his nosebleed, and guessing (correctly) that Roxas knew just as well.

Because, you know what they say: "Never underestimate your opponent."

* * *

Roxas was right at first- in the case of a nosebleed, you're supposed to pinch your nose and tilt your head _**forward**_. Just saying. X3

**End Note:** I still hope you can forgive me, for the shortness and the time and the not beta'd-ness of it. Sorry again.


End file.
